Themes

Out the Other Side-Heroin is a beautiful experience too. So is red wine.
That doesn't make them not addictive. That doesn't make the addiction not destructive.

Tango Addiction-Tango dancers often brag about being a “Tango addict”. I was. I’ve broken my tango addiction. What is tango addiction? In my experience there are three forms of addiction. The first is when someone knows they have a harmful addiction, and they try to hide it from others, or deny it to themselves. (Binge eating, gambling, porn, pharmaceutical […]

The Pleasure Principle-Dancers who violate the ronda, execute moves unsafely, or have difficulty dancing on music recorded after 1950 are simply unskilled, and ideology is no protection from the resultant problems.

Renaming the Roles-A term sometimes used for the lead in BsAs is 'marcar', to mark. He is an artist, drawing in the dark. The role of the Revel is to bring his mark to life, to witness and celebrate his creativity, to give it back to him, a little more beautiful than he imagined.

The reverse cabeceo-It's when a follower does the man's cabeceo to a leader. She walks directly up to him, establishes eye contact, and gives him a nod. Um...There's more to the cabeceo than the repudiation of sound. Perhaps more fundamentally, it's a repudiation of demand, from either party.

Experience the “real” tango…-But Argentines say that the music itself brings emotions into you, and this is why they emphasize that to understand tango you must learn the language, even the old Lunfardo words and phrases. You must feel the pathos of the songs in order to fully experience the emotion of tango.

The hardest job in Tango25 August 2019-Argentines did not get Tango out of Argentina and build a global community
so that we can go dancing every night all over the world.
Local organizers did that.
They are the the heros to admire.

Meeting your Dream8 August 2019-We met on 1.August 2014. There was no middle-ground halfway between our lives in Sydney and Berlin. There was no time to hesitate. We both knew how hard it was to develop without a partner. And we had a taste of what our connection could be.

Gentrification24 July 2019-Berlin's venerable dance-hall, Clärchens Ballhaus, is endangered. The building is protected, but the activities which fix it in the fading constellation of Berlin Bohemianism, are not.

FIskabäck Österlen Sverige July 5-7, 201918 July 2019-The second TangoForge Seminar Compañeros for 2019 and the fifth gathering of TangoForge Sverige took place at the beautiful Fiskabäck retreat center in the Swedish Österlen from 5-7 July, 2019. The focus of the workshop was improvisation with tango customs and patterns, specifically the three giros, molinete lineal, and adornos. Vio y Jessica performed on […]

The Merry-go-round2 July 2019-I watch the milonga. What are we waiting for? An angel to fall from the ceiling into my lap. Because none of these mortals here please me, nor I them. Some ancient thing, some vestige, someone else’s dream – anything that will embrace me, lift me from this chair, and make the merry-go-round spin once […]

Treasure27 June 2019-We had done this ritual for longer than we had danced, with our mothers and grandmothers and every lover we'd ever touched. A ritual as deeply connecting as any embrace, and any dance we would do.

Hope Whisperers (and Italy food guide)30 May 2019-It seems that tango may survive. We were delighted and astonished to find students wanting to concentrate on learning sophisticated technique, changing roles, preferring diverse music, and even a few hotshots daring to be creative (again)....

Why Learn All of Tango1 March 2019-Most Revels tell me they are terribly bored on the dance floor because each Mark seems to repeat a small number of sequences. Although the set of sequences varies among the Marks, “he has a nice embrace and good technique, but after two songs I know exactly what he’s going to do.” Our rapture with […]

The strength of a Tanguera10 February 2019-This is a cycle we are all accustomed to. We tango dancers pride ourselves on managing our jealousy with strength, with retribution, with ritual games, with "codes" of etiquette.
We believe this strength and savvy calculus buys us something valuable and precious.

Are you doing the right dance?9 February 2019-Argentine Tango vs. Zouk: What part of your body do you want to move? What do you want to show off? What shoes do you want to wear? And do you really want to surrender?

The Hard Sell12 January 2019-Unfortunately tango's backward gender politics did not turn out to be its only anti-social gesture. As a student and then a professional, I learned that tango is a profoundly anti-ethical industry.

Let’s Make Tango Popular30 December 2018-Milonga Popular is an extraordinary tango project. Founded by Sven Elze and Pedram Shahyar in 2013, Milonga Popular has proven to be a sustainable and successful model for building new tango communities. This year, Sven and I have spent many hours working together to analyze and articulate exactly what are the questions and lessons which […]

Buscamos – The Search23 December 2018-She imputes joy to my movement which is in fact the urgent beating of wings to fly aimlessly in a storm that never ends.

The Lexicon and the art of Distillation9 October 2018-Through years of study and practice I have developed the TangoForge technique. Like many teachers, I offer students “systems” for learning. Since many teachers have developed some kind of personal system for teaching tango, students are rightfully confused. It is possible to create many different systems for describing the same thing. Each of these systems […]

Searching for the Italian in Argentine Tango: second entry17 September 2018-The "something", I believe, is the fire of urgency. And this is what is missing in Europe, and it is what makes Americans relatively good tangueros. It is the desperation which drives you to invade a stranger with your personality and with the utter confidence that you are SEXY.

Altertango Tryst 2018 in Lotus Loft14 September 2018-Klik hier für DEUTSCH We have been making experiments with Altertango throughout 2018 and we are now ready to host our first open event, Thursdays 25.Okt-29.Nov 2018 in Lotus Loft, Gerichtstraße 23, Aufgang 4. Dancers who have attended our experimental Altertango events describe the experience as “precious”, an unrepeatable, rare experience of connection with a […]

The 25 Elements of Tango on ForgeTube9 September 2018-We have completed our youtube series, the 25 Elements of Tangos. Designed for use at practicas and to support dancers in completing their repertoire, these videos show all the variations of each tango Element in just 1-2 minutes.

Vogue Demaciado7 September 2018-As a tango dancer, I have not been graced with the right body or the right beauty. Of course, I want to be the tango princess, with the skinny legs and the delicate shoes (except that I don't want that boring hair!). But I'm driven to create images that express my ethics, costumes which say something. This comes at the cost of traditional beauty.

Altertango3 September 2018-The history of Altertango began at the beginning, my beginning anyway. My first dance partner, Fritz, liked to dance to street musicians. I had special plastic-soled shoes that could pivot on anything, even straight asphalt. We found a saxophone player practicing in an alley and danced amongst the garbage cans. We danced over the stars […]

Bad Surfaces, Real Music, Action Heros5 August 2018-Committed now to Altertango (getting our tangos out of milongas and into popular culture), I developed three short workshops designed to make our tango more worldly.

Be an angel, not a fairy13 July 2018-Most women are paranoid of being “heavy” as dancers. They try to be “light”. The result is actually that they disconnect, they break the arch of connection. To stay in the experience of sublime connection we have to adjust everything all the time. When the mark produces more force to create a certain movement or […]

The Old World10 July 2018-I went to Italy to eat tortelli, not to dance. I am immediately disoriented. Everything looks, and smells, like Buenos Aires. The hallway of the apartment, a delicate mustiness. The smell of marble. I arrive in the dark in a foreign land, Modena. There is a milonga nearby. I feel an old, now-unfamiliar, excitement. I […]

Organizing a Milonga20 June 2018-It's necessary to give up some of the space on the dance floor in order to provide a seating area that is *inside the party* where people can feel part of it when they're not dancing, where they can watch the dancing, and from where they can cabeceo.The seating areas must have pretty lighting so that people feel attractive and dignified there.

What is the Evil Sequence?10 June 2018-I first observed and wrote about the Evil Sequence in 2016. Now I hope to shine some sunshine on it, and hope we can grow some more beautiful things with new awareness.

The back room3 June 2018-At the moment, my favorite place to dance is Milonga Popular’s “Candle Floor”. The second room is overseen by DJ Gökhan Aksakalli, who plays almost entirely music that I want to dance to. It’s dark. The dancing here is languid and sensual. Pairs of all (and often mixed) levels explore Organizer Sven Elze’s first commandment: […]

Instruments…28 May 2018-I’m learning about music, as it relates to tango. I’m not going to do any counting, or any playing. Mostly more listening and more asking questions. So far the findings are preliminary: Get rid of the drummer. This is the boring part of rock and roll ballads. The electric bass can stay because he’s softer. […]

Near Death Experience5 May 2018-I sit in vigil at my beloved's bedside, guarding his corpus against the authorities who seem to be practicing careless amputation ("ganchos aren't tango"), bizarre bloodletting ("voleos aren't elegant"), justified with dishonest claims about tradition. I stay awake to intercept the doping administered by ill-trained volunteers who appear in the night, zombies muttering insipid reactionary truisms ingrained by tango's Fox Newscasters...

Altertango Action Plan v14 April 2018-All other travel and events, and the focus of my tango work will shift to developing AlterTango. This means three things:
Expressing Tango as an art form and cultural practice beyond the milonga (for performances and alternative social dancing events)
Collaborations with musicians, striving for profound improvisational experiences.
Promoting tango to the people I want to be dancing with in 15 years: yogis, ninjas, retired professional dancers, and athletes

What not to say on Swedish television22 March 2018-I’ve had media training. I knew to write my talking points (on the train). Staying on your Talking Points Then, I broke the most important rule. Don’t say anything other than your talking points –even if it means ignoring the question and repeating yourself– because if you do, that’s what they’ll use. And that’s exactly […]

The Tradition Tension5 March 2018-"The minute you call something a Tradition, you're declaring it dead. Because you're saying that it's a static thing, that there is only one definition..." Chef Ed Lee goes on to explain what many Chefs have had to learn about their French training, "Tradition is technique." To become great chefs, they had to use that technique to express something personal.

From Milongas to Altertango12 February 2018-"We have to stop using the name 'Argentine Tango'. I know that's what we're doing, and we're doing it more authentically and precisely than most people, but that name is counterproductive to the dance we want to do. It conjures an image of a culture that we don't really want anything to do with, and that the athletic people we'd like to be dancing with, are not attracted to."

Ignorantia juris non excusat12 February 2018-Repetitive marks disrespect the genre and our community. We need to respect our inheritance by keeping it alive. And we need to grow our community by challenging our partners to concentrate and to increase their knowledge and skills.

Walking yoga25 January 2018-Yoga enables us to feel fulfilled in solitude. Tango enables us to make a silent connection with almost anyone. Both depend on intense physical rigour and body-experience and both offer us serenity, but yoga can be lonely, and tango can be needy. Combining these two silent practices enriches both.

Geeks make good dancers2 January 2018-Geeks tend to believe that they can’t dance. They’re dead wrong. The geeks I’ve trained have big advantages and learn tango much faster than other students.

Syntax of Power28 December 2017-Power is the courage, confidence, and competence to make things happen. I want to create in a way that’s incomparable and define my own compensation package. You too? Syntax of Power is a raw, potent, and spare revelation of how I got to where I am and how I take on the struggle every day. […]

Hugs and Laughter12 December 2017-This is a complicated point. Please read it very very carefully. I am interested in how we manage people and our own emotions. I call these our control systems. I am also interested in the the way that traditional tango etiquette protects our egos. (I do believe that all dancers’ egos need to be protected. […]

The Blog comes to life: Roles5 December 2017-The Revel’s gift is her taut musculature and her capacity to witness contradiction, her comfort with the unknown.

Elegance15 November 2017-The message of elegance is exclusive, repetitive, and actually not that interesting. People who have musicality, emotion, and improvisational intelligence to share with us, but who may not see themselves in suits, heels, or extreme postures are driven away by these cliché images which indeed are only one of many facets of Argentine Tango.

Gender Liberation25 October 2017-I have to believe that my 11 years of tango are not in service only to sexist retrenchment but to something liberating. I think tango has shown me that there is indeed creative mystery to be revealed in our depths and that patient witness is what enables it to manifest. My belief is controversial that […]

Ignacio Santos, Orquesta Tipica Ciudad Baigón18 October 2017-"In Europe, the people have more open minds for listening and dancing. In Buenos Aires, there are only 3 or 4 milongas in which you can play new tango music and the people will dance. I feel that bit by bit, every year the dancers open more."

Mano y Vio 201713 September 2017-Mano returned to Berlin for our 5th tanda on 9/10.September 2017. Our challenge could be no better described than by Elizabeth Gilbert in her exploration of how to write the book after the bestseller. Gilbert draws on art history for succor. The Greeks and Romans gave half the credit (and blame) to ghostlike muses of […]

Carlos Libedinsky’s Tango17 August 2017-"I started to play and compose because I felt the traditional tango could coexist with the sound of our times. I was interested in Tom Waits, Massive Attack, Air. A group of friends encouraged me...it was not only me who wanted new music."

The Perfect Tanguera10 August 2017-To create "The Perfect Tanguera" I wrote to my 10 favourite Milongueros of all time to ask for their advice. These aren't professionals, or my dance partners, or my friends. They are actually the 10 most delicious men I've danced with anywhere in the world over the last 10 years. Most of them are guys I was too shy to even have a conversation with.

If tango were a videogame…18 July 2017-If tango were a video game...Level 1: Roses ... You are invited to the Grand Ball, full of unknown delights. You are having such fun and you are grateful!
Level 2: Crack ... You rush from dance to dance in ecstasy, gathering all kinds of treasure. You are addicted, selfish, insatiable.

What is tango connection?8 July 2017-Men usually have the idea that they should be gentlemanly: polite, gracious, and charming. Women usually have the idea they should be obedient. Tango teachers usually have the idea that they are the star, and the student will never be as good.

Bankers12 June 2017-These days, slick dancers prove their purported "talent" by dancing a choreography which insults their ardent students who are trying to do a "social"/improvised dance. Then they offer, perhaps in innocence, a fraudulent service, and then blame the students or tell them "it takes 10 years to learn to dance" or "you can't really dance tango unless you understand the Lunfardo lyrics of the music." It only takes 10 years when your teacher is incompetent.

Black Magic White Tango2 June 2017-I believe that there is a black tango and a white tango, like black magic and white magic. If we recognize that tango is a powerful thing, then we realize we can use it for selfish purposes or generous ones. We can realize people who are using it in different ways. Tango is not this or that. Tango is power, and a practice for relating to other people. You wield it.

Quality Control26 May 2017-In the last days the Berlin Tango Scene has witnessed an interesting and overdue conflagration. Some Argentine tango blogger found a video of one of Berlin’s longtime teaching teams and publicized her outrage over the quality of their dancing. At first this post gathered some approval within the Berlin community. Then compassionate influencers quashed the self-righteousness of […]

Fairy dust22 May 2017-Femininity is always a fantasy. There is no lasting escape from our strength and men's frailty. (There are other ways to understand it, but these moments are also rare.) The respite and pleasure you receive from tango is a precious gift, a facet, a moment of "altered perception", and an addictive drug. Like every drug, like every addiction, it is not reality, it is damaging, and you will come down. To get real with this retrograde gender activity you've got yourself hooked in to, you need to decide that you are not going to suffer. And there are other ways than leaving the milonga when there are too many women.To stop suffering the absence of fantasy-ecstasy-femininity requires that you accept all of who you are.

How I Revel – 201721 May 2017-So many women write and speak to me with the same question: “How do I find pleasure in tango, when I’m getting less and less from men?” They ask this question because where they live there are few advanced men, or becuase the men they like to dance with are not always available, or because […]

Tango Addiction9 May 2017-Tango dancers often brag about being a “Tango addict”. I was. I’ve broken my tango addiction. What is tango addiction? In my experience there are three forms of addiction. The first is when someone knows they have a harmful addiction, and they try to hide it from others, or deny it to themselves. (Binge eating, gambling, porn, pharmaceutical […]

Conformity and power7 May 2017-When I started dancing tango I thought “finally, a place to wear fabulous clothes and shoes!” I dressed like a doll, and wore the most fabulous shoes I could find, 15cm heels with 3cm platforms covered in glitter. Everybody knew me for my shoes. I could hear the word “shoes” whispered as I went around […]

Why isn’t Argentine Tango more popular?17 April 2017-I think it’s two main reasons: Terrible marketing: meaningless (or somewhat frightening) words like ‘passion’ and ‘intimacy’, cliché images, music most people think is awful. Terrible teaching, too focused on walking, which is a boring and demeaning experience for beginners who can’t do it or appreciate it yet. To make tango popular we can: Show […]

Argentine Tango Dancing Flow5 April 2017-Tango induces the psychological state of Flow by demanding immediate mutual concentration and fusing action and awareness.

Real Improvisation31 March 2017-No matter how much you think you hate Nuevo Tango, you are the recipient of its gift to the world: the possibility to understand Argentine Tango by its most fundamental elements, Everything we love about traditional tango is better if you dance from the elements: better experience of connection with more intense concentration, more perfect embrace, richer musicality, and a safer ronda.

Partners21 March 2017-The deepest desire of human beings is not to be alone. Whatever our individual pathways toward or around this issue, tango has given us a way to experience partnership. I believe that it is this aspect of tango which is most compelling. Despite the thrills of sensuality, tenderness, attention, celebrity, and musicality, it is the […]

No more Mastery20 March 2017-Instead of going to a milonga as a dancer, for the first time I just went out as a writer. In a weird affirmation, someone came to sit and talk to me about writing. I also danced. He was a a visitor, attractive, in town for one of the marathonic events, and was recommended by […]

Better than Sex8 January 2017-When Argentine Tango is good –when the partners are able to maintain a sublime level of connection, moving as one– it is absolutely rapturous. It feels like [Hollywood] Movie Sex looks: smooth, passionate, consuming. This experience is so intense that it can trigger romantic emotions, the sensation of being in love – even though we […]

How to be a Good Man, as you become an Advanced Tanguero3 January 2017-Congratulations! After years of hard work, you are now mastering this dance! You can make girls feel really good and happy. Girls are starting to look for you, snuggle you, hang around you. This feels great! You’re a nice guy; you are not planning to use your newfound advantage to become a womanizer, but you […]

How to become a Hot TangoMan30 December 2016-This guide reveals women’s preferences and if you follow it, you’ll be on your way to charming and delighting them as a confident and hot Tanguero.

The Pleasure Principle17 December 2016-Dancers who violate the ronda, execute moves unsafely, or have difficulty dancing on music recorded after 1950 are simply unskilled, and ideology is no protection from the resultant problems.

Inversion16 November 2016-The trail grows cold. Ecstasy is an endangered species. But the dogs' eyes glitter with hunger. Their frantic trotting exhausts me. They become aggressive...The party endures, heavy-hearted, addicted to a thrill who may never breach again.

Expectations11 November 2016-So I learn that my worst fears are true ... The whole evening is structured around the proclivities of untrained girls. And the men who want to dance with them.

Embracing Nuevo?29 October 2016-Most tango teachers don't want this label, not only because it's unpopular and bad for business, but because most of us did learn traditionally, and came to appreciate and love the music, the embrace, and the humor and charm of traditional tango...But those who unwittingly insult me with their compliments are also not wrong.

Prayer for Virtuosity25 October 2016-Tonight I have 80 square cm of paper with me, and it's more precious to me than any man here. I am trying to figure out what to I'm seeing, staring at it, praying my desire will be kindled, but I cannot want any of these dancers.

Why I love Eugenia Parrilla10 October 2016-She seems to be using tango to express herself, rather than reaching hungrily for ancient gender detritus. She seems to be using her whole body to the limits of her own possibility, rather than within a codified range of movement.

No crash trance3 July 2016-People attending this event have a genuine interest in tango being creative. To the extent that couples on the floor emerged from the depths to pay attention to one another, they seemed to feel enriched by others' movements. Here, if you do something extreme, people smile at you.

The hostile period25 May 2016-If this were a serious project, I would be able to say "You need to move your arm so I can do my job here. Thank you. Ok let's go rock the house."

Abracadabra18 May 2016-I love taking tango classes! I have an excellent memory for certain things (not numbers), and I find long sequences especially pleasurable to memorize. It’s funny when my male partners are annoyed by this. The sequences themselves are often delightful enough to enjoy repeating 100 times or even more. It’s fun to see how quickly and with […]

The codigos (advanced)18 May 2016-The codigos exist to protect egos and relationships. They are really very handy, and I recommend you follow them. The codigos are like your best friend, who takes care of you when you are drunk.

The evil sequence27 April 2016-These days in Berlin 50% of Marks do this sequence within 5 seconds that my eye lands on them. (I spent a couple of weeks sitting with my stopwatch in the milonga checking my perceptions.) Another 35% do it under 30 seconds. That leaves just 15% of the dancers in the milonga who are not doing this sequence ad nauseum... Not very many of the 15% are advanced dancers who are doing something else. When you look at the dance floor at any milonga, you see this sequence constantly, in dancers of all levels except rank beginners.

Divine Time Machines don’t pivot alone8 March 2016-To reveal more to herself and to her partner, the Revel must abandon the safe ground of knowledge, prediction, sequences, familiar movements, and righteousness. Crucially she must abandon her surety that the best thing she can do is to pivot. Pivoting is how we try to be good girls doing the hard work... But if we abandon a claim on certainty, avoid arbitrary endings and stay open to the previous movement continuing to unfold, then we offer ourselves to divine creativity.

The Hug to Break a Thousand Hearts12 February 2016-This was posted in February 2016 to the Milonga Popular/Tango Kollektiv Facebook Discussion group as part of a conversation about seduction in that milonga. (deutsche Version was posted in March.) The Hug to Break a Thousand Hearts A tango whose intention is seduction has evidently and globally produced satisfactory and ego-enhancing experiences for man-leaders and […]

El Encuentro9 December 2015-The partners begin dancing autonomously, connecting their bodies to the music first, and then look for one another. They approach one another and begin to interact, still dancing autonomously. At some point, they connect. It might be useful to define the tango connection: It is a very particular power relation in which the Mark has creative power and the Revel has the power to manifest his spark.

Dancing with Germain12 November 2015-DJ Elio Astor's live mixes are improvised; Germain and I don't know what the music will be or how long it will go on. The reality of dancing this way is very, very difficult. Not knowing what will come, we must continually leap into our interpretation of the music and one another. The demand to "trust thyself" is immanent. In addition to the unknown of the music, Germain is a contemporary dancer. So the matrix of movement possibilities expands dramatically beyond the already-rich tango lexicon.

No Hungry Women11 November 2015-I can feel the hunger of the women. I know that hunger for tango ecstasy. I know it as an addiction, as a wound, as a sweet balm. I know that dancing with them won't be enough. I can give them my best and they will still be hungry. If I have any responsibility for the event, this sensation drains me to the point that I desperately want to lay down on the floor and go to sleep.

Berlin’s Authenticity, article for Modern Tango World Berlin edition25 October 2015-I made a series of interviews on behalf of the Berlin edition of Modern Tango World 2015. This is an overview, emphasizing the most interesting things I learned, with links to the original interviews. “Erfahrungen machen” is a common German phrase, which translates as “making experiences”. The long history of tango here in Berlin has […]

Berlin Tango Histories22 October 2015-“Berlin is the first city of the world where you had tango community who danced Argentine Tango. In Japan in 40s and 50s you had many people who heard tango music, But dancers in a community, you had in Uruguay and BsAs, but not in Europe. The first point of the world to have this outside from South America was Berlin. Berlin is famous for the boheme life. People come here to go out, to meet people, to laugh and love with them. And tango is a part of this.

Vio Music25 September 2015-I made a play for the word 'powerful'. Because to me what traditional tango music lacks is power, and that's what I get and like about the music I like to dance on (which is not all alternative music). Powerful music for me has deep sounds and it has emotions.

A social milonga23 September 2015-In Buenos Aires the worst thing that can happen to you at a milonga is not to find a table. At a table, you are never alone. Even if everyone else is dancing, you are obviously part of a group. Once you are sitting, you too are a host, watching out for arriving friends or handsome tourists who need a place. In Berlin, if you are lucky you get a chair, to wait in and to which you are not attached. Dancers in Berlin milongas are in perpetual solitary motion and circulation.

“The interesting questions” interview with Judith Preuss, Mala Junta18 September 2015-I’m not the first generation of tango dancers in Berlin. I have knowledge for 20 years. I entered the scene in 1991. From the beginning in Berlin women couples existed, Brigitte and Angelika. When my first dance partner quit, I started leading, leading, leading. Irma, my teacher said “ok, I don’t have men for you, […]

DJ Jens Stuller, Interview1 September 2015-My first big Milonga idea grew up in 2007, when I saw an announcement for a theater performance in an empty indoor swimming pool. I knew this former public pool from my youth, when I still was swimming there. I phoned the new owner Mrs. Berger and made an appointment to talk about the Milonga […]

Dancing in the Berlin Hauptbahnhof1 September 2015-Last Wednesday 19 August I danced in the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Europe’s biggest and most central train crossing station. It’s the highest security milonga I’ve ever been to. 500M from the German chancellor’s office, this building is in constant readiness for terror attack. It’s on the site of the former wall. The director of the annual […]

Martin y Maurizio: elevating revelations…29 August 2015-While most couples are stuck with a single gender performance, a gay role-changing couple can explore gender performance and its relationship to their dance with far more subtlety and interest. And it's not so crude as drag. Martin and Maurizio always dress as two elegant men and they wear men's shoes. It's in the physical expression, how they move, how they touch, how they look at each other, how they define and play with power.

Experimenting to popularize Tango10 August 2015-Sven Elze and Pedram Shahyar, Tango Kollektiv The challenge facing every tango professional is how to attract new dancers. We all have lots of ideas, and we know that most of them don’t work. If we had more students, the teachers wouldn’t need to compete, and most of our tango wars would go away. Sven […]

The gender journey25 July 2015-I want to try to find a story of tango as a liberatory gender journey. For men, from fear of their own strength to sexual prowess to the decision to choose. For women, from inadequate object, to perfect femininity, and out the other side, beyond seduction and competition to a deeper power.

Is it a conversation?25 July 2015-I believe that the concept of "conversation" is being misapplied by dancers. A good conversation does not involve constantly interrupting, changing the subject, and re-interpreting your partner. Anyway, I don't think this is a helpful metaphor. In conversations, we start and yield, we falter and wait, we stop to think, we watch for cues, and we are usually sitting safely in a chair. There's a lot more at stake in tango. We risk our bodies, we have less time, and often our eyes are closed.

Growing up Tango in Berlin, interview with Max Power, Tanguito Potsdam17 July 2015-For me authenticity is really important, but it's authenticity for me, my logic, what I am doing. What I am teaching about tango makes sense. So that a student afterwards feels comfortable, feels logical, that they can use it, that they can understand it, practice it, get better.

A manifesto for dancing17 July 2015-I have been waiting to write a general TangoForge update until I knew the story. I still don’t know it, and it’s more complicated than I anticipated. But I have a part of it ready for you. It’s summer in Europe and I decided to get out of Berlin and see what’s there. So I […]

Elio Astor, NeoTango DJ17 July 2015-"I identify myself as a neotango DJ. NeoTango invites Argentine Tango to become contemporary by applying its biomechanics of connection and improvisation to the experiences and emotions of the world heritage of music. At the entrance of my neolonga is the statement by Gustav Mahler 'Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire'... "

finding my man27 June 2015-Day Four of the tango festival. I’ve had it with being Diva Freak. I can only keep it up for so long without a single person telling me they’re grateful to see some freedom and creativity on the dance floor. I lock into close embrace, and I stop dancing with men. Because every man who marks me […]

Game Tango: Watch the Avatar13 February 2015-Your tango avatar can make you strong. It can help you through the psychologically challenging experience of a milonga. You may find you can camouflage your tango avatar under your suit and bring some of your blasé confidence to that business meeting. You may wear your tango stilettos on a date, to remind yourself that you already have a lot of men.

Tango Fundamentalism13 December 2014-The New Victorian boys like to say that they don't need a big vocabulary because it's all about the music and connection with the partner. And those dancers who do still use the entire tango repertoire are accused of not caring about connection and emotion in the dance. "The music is leading," say the New Victorians, one of several truisms by which the New Victorians glorify simplistic dancing. None of these truisms necessitate eliminating movements.

Code of Ethics for Tango Communities13 November 2014-A code of ethics has three parts, the preamble which gives it context, the fundamental moral principles, and standards of conduct.

Something added in translation: Lead with the chest7 November 2014-You have surely noticed that I am obsessively annoyed by the incessant exhortation to “lead with the chest”. I think it’s inaccurate, unhelpful, and leads to unstable behaviour. I’m fascinated by and loose with words. I temper this with deep investigations with multilingual friends like ZM. What if this cliché is the detritus of a […]

Go!1 October 2014-It’s striking. Every time I talk with someone about having finally found the dance partner I’ve been looking for, and my plans to return to Berlin to try working with him, people respond with intense encouragement. “Go!” Many people have gone on from that point to offer assistance. I feel that I am surrounded by angels. I’m […]

One Tanda with Ekaterina16 September 2014-Ekaterina Khomenko was murdered in St Petersburg on 7 September. It is strongly believed that the murder is connected to her work as a Queer Tango teacher. (News articles: Global Voices and Queer Russia.) We danced this past July at the Berlin Queer Tango Festival 2014 and I want to thank Ekaterina more formally for what […]

the grind13 September 2014-You’re too tired to contemplate putting on your shoes. You’re worn out by life. You want to cry, or scream, or get drunk. And it was a crazy day. There’s no time for dinner now. But the milonga beckons. Maybe you’ll feel better there? You remind yourself that last night did not make you feel […]

The Big Tango Lessons, Berlin 201427 August 2014-Several of the deep lessons here are things I had been saying, and even writing about, but they became more visceral and powerful during the trip. One of these is that I want a mark who trusts me. Another thing I've been expounding on is how good revelling can "set marks free". I've also written about the power of a woman's desire to attract the man she wants to dance with. By the end of this trip to Berlin I was getting my man every night.

Interview with Henning Klose, TangoLoft Berlin25 August 2014-My first experience of TangoLoft made me cry. I couldn’t even dance that night. I was so moved that a milonga could be everything that I dream of… Elegant – with candles and flowers and antique furniture. Comfortable – with various seating options. Gourmet –with a kitchen. Free – without scowling onlookers. Happy –with laughter and smiles. Diverse –with all […]

Why I don’t ask marks to dance…13 August 2014-The line of dance is not the only thing that circles. So do the arguments about tango. It feels more productive to use the term ‘spiral’, because then we feel we are getting somewhere, either spiraling out away from the familiar territory, or getting in closer to the deep truths. Pick your direction. (But please […]

The deeper cabeceo6 August 2014-Globally, the best coffee is served in places with inadequate and injurious seating… Black star, double eye, the Barn. If there are enough chairs and a table of the appropriate height this is a bad sign for the coffee. So I am drinking my thoroughly excellent espresso on the steps of the church, meditating on […]

Interview with Thomas Rieser, Nou Tango school, Berlin5 August 2014-Researching the schools in Berlin, I came across this interview with Thomas Rieser, founder of Nou Tango, Berlin. The interview just made me want to ask him more questions, and he kindly agreed. My first question was the obvious one from the other interview, which was to ask him more about the fact that he […]

Berlin Queer Tango Festival 201430 July 2014-What has changed? My last Queer Tango Festival was Buenos Aires in 2009. The global scene has advanced in several dimensions: The level was much improved. The tendency to jerkiness which has characterised most qt events I’ve seen to date has been overcome. People danced with nice connection. I am thrilled. The number and level […]

Professionalism and commercialism in tango13 July 2014-Some observations… Tango is an international industry, with annual revenue of $400 million and growing. It’s a service industry with no certifications, no educational system, no required training, no industry standards. Functionally, the qualifications are conveying an aura of “authenticity” and having somehow acquired a reputation. In most of the world outside of Argentina, tango communities […]

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s “Milonga”15 June 2014-Why is it so hard to tell a new story about tango - or even a real story? It's just not all about drama with your lover. Tango is about race, class, and gender. So many stories to tell, but none of them start with one man and one woman. There are always the women not chosen. And the ghosts. Another disappointing stage show which can't beyond melodrama, threesomes, and chairs.

Music in which the rhythm doesn’t make noise13 June 2014-Last month we had the pleasure of dancing tango to the live jazz saxophone of Junio Karokaro. For some of us, the lack of a beat was challenging. One leader said "I can't use sequences, I have to lead one element at a time." Others promptly felt comfortable with it. We all agreed that this dancing was riveting. It took a lot of concentration and felt very satisfying.

The state of biomechanical science4 May 2014-I met with Michael Chang, who has been a Dance Sport competitor and coach for more than 20 years. He was Australia representative to the World Professional Championships of 10-Dance in 2009. Apparently, there are only a handful of scientists in the world studying dance and, as far as Michael is aware, none are studying Argentine Tango. I had ten questions for Michael about biomechanics. I wanted to be sure I was using the correct anatomical terminology.

Renaming the Roles6 April 2014-A term sometimes used for the lead in BsAs is 'marcar', to mark. He is an artist, drawing in the dark. The role of the Revel is to bring his mark to life, to witness and celebrate his creativity, to give it back to him, a little more beautiful than he imagined.

Jewel Lab honors Graeme Dallow21 January 2014-Graeme Dallow was an acrobat in the Radiant Review, a competitive figure skater, police commissioner, ballroom dancer, and the first person in New Zealand to dance and teach Argentine Tango.

Interview with Roberto Martinez17 January 2014-I’m sitting with Roberto in the milonga. He knows every song, and each one triggers a story about the men in the orquestra. “This guy Alberto Castillo had 200 suits. And shoes to match each one. They called him El Electrico because he sings as if he put his finger in the power point. His […]

Anatomical technique17 January 2014-Metaphors and indescribable sensations mystify tango technique. Anatomically-precise instruction enables students can develop the needed body awareness and control with the assistance of any exercise professional.

The Embrace28 December 2013-Tango offers diverse delights for various tastes and fascinating paradoxes for debate, but it is uncontroversial that the best and most essential of tango’s gifts is the experience of what we call “The Embrace”. Those who have experienced a real sublime Argentine Tango embrace are both blessed and cursed. They are blessed know that it […]

One tango . ?10 December 2013-I’m sure you’ve come across some delirious gushing descriptions of magical nights when dancers young and old shared a moonlit dancefloor, finding that across cultures, generations, and musicalities, “there is truly one tango”. Some are wary of such claims, either because they cling righteously to some territory and don’t want to be lumped with those […]

Tango Complex: An honest introduction to Argentine Tango30 November 2013-I was an economist with a salary on automatic deposit, poised to receive University tenure. I spent weekends at peace demonstrations and dinner parties. I was disappointed and jaded. I had looked for connection in research collaborations and community service. I found it in the arms of old men and US marines. My story is […]

Tango and Carbonara (or the Should and the Could)10 November 2013-In my view, authentic tango is one in which we find tango's soul through our own experience, and trust that we have something poignant to develop with our partners from our own context, rather than forsaking ourselves in imitation.

So about Gender and Tango…28 October 2013-Gender play Tango is a a space where most dancers do gender more extremely than in the rest of life. This can be fun, it can be healing, and it can be distorting. There are several dimensions to gender extremity in tango. The first has to do with costume, and is pleasurable for those who […]

I am not a teacup4 October 2013-I feel so sorry for the 40+ students who were beating themselves up for not inducing Nito's grace into his sequence but having no information about how to move. The corrections from the couple were only focused on getting the sequence right.

Argentine Tango out of the clichés2 October 2013-We're scheming to get tango out of the clichés. To show that it's athletic...that its romance will take you by surprise...that it's drop-dead sexy in whatever shoes you are already wearing... and that you can dance tango to the music you already love.

The reverse cabeceo25 September 2013-It's when a follower does the man's cabeceo to a leader. She walks directly up to him, establishes eye contact, and gives him a nod. Um...There's more to the cabeceo than the repudiation of sound. Perhaps more fundamentally, it's a repudiation of demand, from either party.

die Rückwärts Cabeceo25 September 2013-There’s a phenomenon I’ve been noticing lately. I think it’s the reverse cabeceo. It’s when a revel does the man’s cabeceo to a mark. She walks directly up to him, establishes eye contact, and gives him a nod. Um. There’s more to the cabeceo than the repudiation of sound. Perhaps more fundamentally, it’s a repudiation […]

Right, wrong, and handsome2 September 2013-“It’s an interesting phrase…” my student said. “–The one the Argentine teachers use: ‘It’s not wrong, but…’ Why do they say that?” There are obvious answers, and deeper ones. On the obvious level are several possibilities, such as: [1] The student might be using a different, perfectly legitimate, sequence to get the same result. Affirming that […]

I don’t think that’s style…10 August 2013-Here we go again. My third post on style. The first one is here, it’s meant to calm new people. The second one is here, it’s a bit of a vent. I’m not being difficult. I really don’t get it. People in Australia are constantly saying to me “Eventually I want to learn all the styles, but for […]

How to determine whether you are receiving quality instruction23 July 2013-There are lots of Argentine Tango instructors to choose from. There are lots of expensive workshops to attend. Everyone seems to rave about every teacher they’ve studied with and how fabulous the workshop was. Of course it’s fun to go to workshops just for the social part and the buzz. This post is about evaluating […]

Why Women should learn to lead, by Mitra Martin15 July 2013-Why Women Should Learn to Lead in Tango by Mitra Martin, founder of Oxygen Tango School of LA Here in Mar Vista , it is wonderous exciting to be surrounded by a lot of nice dancers who dance both roles fluently. It makes practicas super productive and fun and raises the level of Tango […]

Why rebel?4 July 2013-A rebellion is a daring and dangerous effort to disrupt the current state of affairs in loyalty to a deeper truth. I’m not saying I’ve got the only bead on truth, or depth. What I do, how I teach, and what I write is an expression of my commitment to the best and richest tango […]

Making tango your own16 June 2013-You are investing time, power, and heart into this dance. It may sound obvious, but it’s crucial to remind yourself that you’re doing all this for your own pleasure. Tango is a space of self-expression, elation, and emotional intensity that are very personal. It’s also an authoritarian, righteous, rules-centered, judgmental world. Perhaps too easily, we […]

Leaders’ versus Followers’ musicality1 June 2013-This post is the beginning of an investigation which I hope to continue in further discussions and observation. I was never interested in DJing, but more and more it becomes part of my work, as I host practicas and milongas. I have collected a nice library of music. Some days I really can’t stand any […]

Slippage and fracture in transmission13 April 2013-On a talk by contemporary dancer Sara Wookey entitled “Dance is hard to see,” regarding Yvonne Rainer’s ‘Trio A’. Presented by Performance Space. Trio A (1966) is a historically important, “paradigm shifting” dance. It was one of the first expressions of minimalism in dance, influenced by Rainer’s involvement with a multidisciplinary arts community in NYC which […]

Tango bigotry1 March 2013-Why are some of us so intent on putting down others’ way of dancing? While encouraging entrants to celebrate their love of tango and have fun, the upcoming Australian Tango Dance Challenge “forbids” ganchos and lifting the legs (they must have meant to say feet) “above the knees.” Why would a tango competition forbid moves […]

Moody milonguera / Us and the Onda14 January 2013-In Castellano, the mood of the milonga is called ‘onda’, a term used to describe the combined effects of everything from architecture to astrology. “The Onda” is an ineffable mix of the shape of the space, the lighting, the attitude of the organizer, the music, the feeling of the floor, who is there, who is […]

Experience the “real” tango…9 December 2012-But Argentines say that the music itself brings emotions into you, and this is why they emphasize that to understand tango you must learn the language, even the old Lunfardo words and phrases. You must feel the pathos of the songs in order to fully experience the emotion of tango.

Is tango art? Entry I29 October 2012-Part 1: 29 October, 2012 This is a question I’ve asked myself repeatedly. I think mostly my view has been that it’s not, but that it could be. Note that I have no training in dance as a fine art, and I don’t know the relevant concepts and terminology, so my criteria are drawn from […]

Tanguera’s tale11 August 2012-Before being a tanguera, I was an economist. I was interested in community-based economics, crafts and craftspeople. I’ve become one of the people I used to study. I work with my hands, my body, my creativity, my spirit. I integrate mind and body into my craft. It’s a beautiful and meaningful life. I do what I […]

Once and For All: Tango Nuevo is Not a Style of Dance18 July 2012-“Before ... creating tango steps was all about inspiration … but now we have this tool. And I think many people call it ‘nuevo tango’ because they couldn’t understand how all those steps just appeared…they didn’t realize it was the same thing that they were looking at.”

88 keys…2 June 2012-I made a rough estimate of the number of discrete tango moves. There are 25 movements in the tango lexicon, each with various numbers of variations (there are 48 sacadas, and far more ganchos).
Different dynamics of motion would correspond to the chords.

What’s in a style?10 April 2012-People talk A LOT about different styles of Argentine Tango. They talk about what looks good, what’s “authentic“, which moves shouldn’t be done while dancing socially… I’ve written before that I think style is something you create on an individual level, from your choice in shoes to the sassy way you tilt your head when […]

A Passing Embrace1 April 2012-It’s the performance that counts. You drag your self into another reality, propped up with costumes and glue. You may not believe it, but you will convince those who aren’t paying close attention anyway.

Rethinking cortinas21 March 2012-So the function of cortinas is to determine if we'll be having sex or not. Cortinas mean that we are engaged in a negotiation. No cortinas, no sex. This is a very good example of why we need to investigate the "authentic traditions" of tango and see if they serve us or not.

What is Confidence?9 February 2012-In my work with dancers it’s become clear to me that what distinguishes rapid improvers from slow improvers is one thing, confidence. The confident ones have the intention to do the new thing right away. The unconfident ones have already decided they won’t be able to do it before they try. I can feel this […]

There’s nothing wrong with Contentment26 January 2012-Tango, like any art form, is rich enough to provide space for lots of different interpretations and personalities. And, like every art form, it’s rife with debates and policing. “That’s not a painting!” But Tango is also a “social dance”, by which we mean a medium for socializing. And, according to doctors these days, a […]

The power of desire11 January 2012-One of the most painful parts of tango for aRrevel is waiting, or sitting. It makes us feel passive and powerless when we wait for someone –anyone– to ask us for a dance. This is a mistaken perception of the situation and revels can develop a deeper understanding of what is going on.

Nuevo Tango Reloaded9 January 2012-The Buenos Aires perspective: "Tango Nuevo doesn't exist" and the NZ/AU perspective "There are styles of Argentine Tango and every dancer can be categorized into one of them" are talking past each other. I'm starting to feel it's a bit disingenuous to keep insisting that it doesn't exist. This post is my first attempt to describe what it is that people are seeing when they say "that's tango nuevo".

About “Authenticity”1 January 2012-I have forbidden myself from using the word "authenticity". I don't give "that's the way it's done" as an explanation, and I don't let myself say "how it is in Buenos Aires". Don't get me wrong, I love Buenos Aires and dancing there. But I recognize that these explanations don't serve my goals as a teacher and dancer - to empower my students and make tango culturally relevant.

Damian and Vio hit the streets, Sydney30 November 2011- November 2011 Any Time, Any Where, Any Shoe… Damian Thompson and Vio prove that tango belongs in the streets, of Sydney and the world… #1 #2 #3: more boots!

If you’re so openminded about tango, why do you use the cabeceo?28 August 2011-It’s painful to sit as a revel waiting to be asked for a dance. Marks feel a lot of stress in having to make the approach. And many people feel that the codigos and the cabeceo reinforce old fashioned gender roles about male privilege and female passivity. I’ve felt the anxiety that accompanies both roles, […]

Nuevo Tango Doesn’t Exist, But it Sure is Taking up a Lot of Space on the Dance Floor19 July 2011-Indeed, a visitor to Buenos Aires could not today distinguish between traditional and new milongas based on the music played, the embrace used, steps and movements, which orchestras are invited to play, or which dancers are invited to perform. What is different is age of patrons, and whether the tables are hosted and segregated...

Inhabiting the tango roles16 March 2011-If the leader doesn't risk openness and vulnerability, if the leader falls back or contracts power, the follower has to extend too far across the emotional and physical gap. It's very difficult for leaders to send their hearts forward, and much easier to pull the follower to them. This stance countermands a comfortable retreat to the intellectual side and requires a dramatic embodiment of an extreme and seemingly archaic gender role -- the protector.

Art and global culture3 January 2011-...in the waves of globalization, one of which birthed tango. We tanguera/os are struggling to learn to share, gripping authority as it slips through the toes, parrying each fusion that comes, trading shifts on the guardwatch, fighting over the orthodox, whirling around to explain that tango has always been a fusion, has always been diverse, has always been changing, has always been shared.

Why we need Feminist Tango18 March 2010-A feminist tango is not anti-man in any way, but it is pro-woman. It means we give each other the same gracious generosity that we habitually and unhesitatingly offer to strange men. It means we give each other more, and what that more can be is open to the imagination of every woman who has suffered the unique and poignant pains of tango.

The Chicho Interview1 December 2009-"The traditionalists complain about the modern ones contending that they don’t dance tango, instead they do gymnastics, and the modern dancers complain that the others got stuck in time. There is no fusion, it is one group against the other, and it makes me sad because in reality we are all together."

Slideshow from 2009 Celebration of Women Leaders26 June 2009-On 19 April 2009, Duro y Vio organized two beautiful events at Spontaneous Celebrations to mark their departure from Boston. One was Boston’s first Queer Tango Milonga. The other was a Celebration of Women Leaders. Here’s the gorgeous slideshow from that event. Celebration of Women Leaders from vio saraza on Vimeo. Please do not repost […]

Gender, desire, and drag2 April 2009-This research note examines the unique possibilities that tango may create as it becomes queered, and identifies ways in which the extreme gender environment of traditional tango is already queer. I distinguish three layers of gender experience in tango: drag, object desire, and inhabitation of essence.

beautiful, complex interview with Pablo Veron28 March 2009-Pablo Veron was the choreographer and principle dancer of Sally Potter's movie, The Tango Lesson. In this interview in El Tangauta he discusses current tango debates, such as whether and how to differentiate styles of dancing, what has happened with the emergence of pedagogies for teaching, and the "industrialization" of tango. The interview beautifully articulates why improvisation is the soul of tango.

Aleph Bravo Tango, A Novel17 December 2008-“Just like a clever dance.” Eric Jørisson (founder of El Corte in Nijmegen) “This book didn’t just make me laugh. It also made me feel mad, happy, nostalgic, empathetic, represented, respected proud… It broke my heart and then mended it. If you want to know what happens to those who have been seduced by tango, […]

Queer Hip Hop17 March 2008-Homo Revolution is a national tour of Queer hip hop artists. It's interesting to reflect on the acts and meanings of queer hip hop as we think about building queer tango.

Tango: Reflections from one year in (before facebook)15 October 2006-If you are ok with meaningless, detached eroticism, desensitized from the emotions that normally accompany it, and seeking to avoid misunderstandings, entanglements, fluids, or diseases, tango is a way to get off several times a night for the rest of your life. And it’s an age-inclusive social space, where women become more sexy as they tuck decades of dancing into their girdles.